


Braids and Books

by deadbythursday



Series: Tumblr Things [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Derek wants to braid his hair, Fluff, M/M, Spencer wants to write a book, pure fluff, repost from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25566382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadbythursday/pseuds/deadbythursday
Summary: A soft morning between Derek and Spencer.
Relationships: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Series: Tumblr Things [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1852780
Comments: 6
Kudos: 177





	Braids and Books

“I think that I wanna write a book”

“Oh?’

“Yeah.”

This was the first thing that had been said between them in some time, disrupting the silence that had settled. They were cozied up in Derek’s living room, basking in the peace that their day off brought them. At some point, Spencer had ended up on the floor at Derek’s feet, and he was writing in some sort of journal. Derek had tried to peek over his shoulder at one point to see a slew of equations and statistics. What he was calculating was beyond him.

“Baby boy, haven’t you written a bunch of stuff already? How is a book different?’

Spencer sighed, a deep, thoughtful sigh. “I’ve written a lot of academic papers and such, a lot of research in various fields, but never a  _ book _ book.”

Derek adjusted his position so that he could start toying with Spencer’s hair, combing the knots out with his fingers. 

“Okay, so are you thinking like a textbook or something?”

Spencer started to pick at the threads of his socks (one was pink with eyeballs patterned on it, and the other was yellow plaid), and he shrugged. He looked so shy at this moment, head bowed like he was trying to avoid eye-contact. Plus, he was nearly lost in Derek’s hoodie, having pulled the large piece of clothing over his knees. 

“No, not like a textbook.” He said eventually, a certain hush in his voice.

Clooney was sitting next to Derek on the sofa, seemingly very interested in what Derek was doing with Spencer’s hair as he sniffed and chuffed. 

Derek had separated the hair down the middle, brushing half over Spencer’s shoulder so that he could focus on the other half. As he spoke, he gently guided Spencer’s head to tilt back so that he could start the braid at his hairline.

“So not a textbook, and not an academic paper. What kind of book are you thinking about baby boy?”

A beat of silence as Derek continued his braiding and Clooney continued his sniffing. 

“A children’s book?” It sounded more like a question then an answer, like Spencer wasn’t sure how seriously he’d be taken. 

Derek didn’t respond right away and instead opted to consider what Spencer was saying. This was a man who was good at so many things; he was literally a genius. Naturally, the first thought would be that he’d continue his pursuits in academia, focusing on logic and reasoning. But, there was so many other sides to Spencer Reid than just academics. He could hustle anyone in cards, he could talk down an unsub using pure empathy, he was deeply sensitive and insecure.

Spencer Reid was so much more than just his research, so why shouldn’t the rest of the world see that?

He tapped at his boyfriend’s shoulder, an unspoken request for a hair tie. The little black thing secured Derek’s first french braid, and he soon moved on to his second. 

“I think that you’re going to write a fantastic kid’s book baby,” Derek murmured, beginning to repeat the process with the other side of Spencer’s head. 

When he’d been younger he used to help his mom do his sister’s hair before school, and when they’d gotten older he’d continued that that trend. He’d fallen out of practice over the years though, so when he’d started up again his braids had been nothing short of sloppy.

When he’d started dating Spencer he hadn’t really thought about braiding his hair until one night when it just  _ wouldn’t  _ stay out of his face. Watching the genius get slowly more and more irritated had prompted an amused Derek to pull him into his lap and tie in a messy braid. It had been cute, watching Spencer realize what was happening. At that moment he’d gone from squirmy and confused to soft and pliable, letting his hair get pet and moved every which way. 

Ever since then Spencer would occasionally approach him with a brush, a hair tie, and a blush on his face.

Even now, Derek could see the anxieties melting off of his partner’s face as he braided his hair, melting into the touch.

“Do you have any ideas for your book pretty baby?”

Spencer smiled at the pet name (he was overtly fond of being called pretty, though he’d never admit it out loud) and let his eyes flutter closed. 

“I want to write about individuality. Being yourself and all that.”

“Yeah? That really hits home doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I think it does. I don’t know,” he murmured sighing and handing Derek another hair tie when prompted. “I just want kids to know that its okay to be different. I didn’t have that growing up, and I think that if maybe I had, I could’ve become comfortable with myself a lot sooner.”

Spencer’s hair was in two french braids now, little pigtails that were each tied off neatly. Maybe Derek should invest in some little ribbons or something for when spencer needed to feel extra cute. He filed that away in his brain for a later date and popped a kiss to his partner’s head. 

“I think that sounds really fantastic Spence, and I think you should do it.’”

“Well,” Spencer was blushing again, turning on the floor so that he could look up at Derek. “I kind of already started? I don’t know if you wanna see or not but-”

“I’d love to see pretty boy.”

Spencer smiled wide, the same way he did when someone asked him a question that he knew the answer to, and with that, he grabbed his journal and scampered up into Derek’s lap. 

For the next hour or so they flipped through, with Spencer showing his story of a monster named Rumple Buttercup. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a one-shot that I posted on Tumblr. I'm a sucker for soft Spencer, especially with hoodies and mismatched socks. I'm equally a sucker for Derek braiding his hair.
> 
> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr for more works like this @deadbythursday


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